La Cage aux Folles (Birds of a Feather) | |
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Written by | Jean Poiret |
Characters | Georges Albin "Zaza" Francis Salomé Jacob Mercédès M. Tabaro Zorba Laurent M. Languedoc M. Dieulafoi Mme Dieulafoi Muriel Simone |
Date premiered | 1973 |
Place premiered |
Théâtre du Palais-Royal Paris, France |
Original language | French |
Genre | Comedy; farce |
Setting | a nightclub in St. Tropez, France. |
La Cage aux Folles (French pronunciation: [la kaʒ o fɔl]) is a 1973 French farce by Jean Poiret centering on confusion that ensues when Laurent, the son of a Saint Tropez night club owner and his gay lover, brings his fiancée's ultraconservative parents for dinner. The original French production premièred at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal on 1 February 1973 and ran for almost 1,800 performances. The principal roles were played by Jean Poiret and Michel Serrault. A French-Italian film of the play was made in 1978 (with two sequels La Cage aux Folles II (1980), directed by Édouard Molinaro and La Cage aux Folles 3: 'Elles' se marient (1985), directed by Georges Lautner.) In 1983, Poiret's play was adapted in the United States as a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and later remade as the American film The Birdcage.